Remembrance: Marv Schaefer

Marv Schaefer was born on 7 March 1943, and he passed away on 17 August 2025.  He was one of the founders of what was then known as computer security or information security, and what we now call cybersecurity, starting in the 1970s.  He played key roles in development of government standards including the Orange Book (Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation Criteria), creation of the IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, and much more.  He was the Chief Scientist at NSA's National Computer Security Center, a Vice President at Trusted Information Systems, and other roles.  He was creator with his wife Mary Alice of Books With a Past, a used bookstore in Glenwood Maryland which reflected their tastes, including an outsized collection of mathematics and French literature.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Marv was known by all who met him as a gentle and brilliant man.  He had a fabulous sense of humor, and was also quite fond of puns, which he used quite skillfully.  His long white beard and (for many years) round belly led to children mistaking him for Santa Claus, which he enjoyed when it came from children, and disliked from adults.  Marv was particularly fond of spicy foods – no one who knew him could recall something he found too spicy.

As Gene Spafford wrote, "He had the merry twinkle in his eye and told many a funny story".  Terry Benzel wrote "He shaped my thinking, my career, and even left an impression on my young daughter-all with the same mix of brilliance, patience, and warmth that defined who he was."  Vint Cerf wrote "Our lives [weave] patterns with everyone else; some closely twining and others more distant but all of them colorful, and often making unexpected patterns. If there is a good thing about getting older, it is marveling at the tapestry our lives have woven. Marv's thread is colorful, rich in texture and touching so many lives."